07/20/2011

Chris Leben did not take his time in beating a fighter he said inspired him to fight. In just 27 seconds, Leben knocked out Wanderlei Silva at UFC 132 in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

Silva came out swinging, and landed a strike right on Leben's chin. Leben was not hurt, and with Silva in close, Leben landed a series of left-handed uppercuts until Silva fell to the ground.

Leben was pumped after the win.

"How do you think after that?" he said when asked how he felt by UFC commentator Joe Rogan. "He hit me on the button. He cracked me, and I went autopilot."

Before the fight, Leben talked about how he would watch tapes of Silva in his prime for PRIDE Fighting Championships. After the bout, he called Silva his hero, and thanked him for taking the bout, Silva's first in 16 months.

Silva, who has been fighting since 1996, now has a record of 33-11-1. Leben originally burst onto the MMA scene after the first season of "The Ultimate Fighter" and now has a record of 26-7.

What do we do about bad judging in MMA? It?s becoming an increasingly-larger problem, and it?s quite the paradox: the competence of most judges seems to be declining almost as rapidly as the sport of MMA is evolving. And yet there?s a recent report floating around that?s quickly swept several major MMA news outlets. Is [...]

On Monday afternoon, former WWE champion John Cena posted a message on Twitter apologizing to The Rock for all the remarks he’s made regarding The Rock’s absence from WWE television. Cena wrote:
“I would like to take a moment to publicly apologize to Dwayne ?the Rock? Johnson. In an effort to make WM28 as big as possible I tried to expose rock for his flaws. Very childish and immature on my behalf. My comments about the rocks absence were both unprofessional and childish. I am sorry.”
The Rock responded with a message ...

Strikeforce has signed two new veteran lightweights that will square off next month at Strikeforce Challengers 18.

According to a report from MMAJunkie.com, 10-year MMA veteran Milton Vieira will meet 24-year-old King of the Cage Lightweight Champion Bobby Green on the card, coming to the Pearl at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas on August 12.

Vieira, who is credited as the inventor of the anaconda choke, is a longtime veteran who has competed all over the world from his native Brazil to the U.S. and Japan. Through ten years, he's compiled a 12-7-1 record, and enters Strikeforce on a two fight winning streak.

Green has fought almost as many times Vieira in a third of the time. Bringing a 15-4 record into his Strikeforce debut, Green is 7-3 over his last ten fights. His biggest exposure to a wide audience came back in 2009 on Affliction's second event, where he lost by submission to UFC vet Dan Lauzon.

Penick's Analysis: Both are solid pickups for Strikeforce, and this will be a good fight for a Challengers card. Vieira hasn't been nearly as active as Green, but he's stayed busy enough and has wins in four of his last five fights. Green has just continued taking fights since beginning his career in January of 2008, and in just three and a half years will have his 20th career bout on this card. Both will be out to make a statement to a larger television audience than has seen them before, and it will make for a good fight.

UFC 137 already features a welterweight title fight between champion Georges St-Pierre and Strikeforce 170-pound champion Nick Diaz, who will vacate his belt in that promotion to challenge GSP for his title. It is the first UFC-Strikeforce crossover fight since Zuffa bought the UFC's biggest rival earlier this spring.

Siver (19-7, 8-4 UFC) has won four straight fights and eight of his last nine - including a 7-1 stretch in his second stint in the UFC. He has four fight-night bonus awards over that period, as well. After upsetting George Sotiropoulos at UFC 127 in February, Siver earlier this month beat Matt Wiman at UFC 132 by unanimous decision. Though fans at the event, and throughout the online world, disputed Siver's win and chalked it up to more bad judging, UFC president Dana White said he scored the bout in Siver's favor.

Stout (17-6-1, 6-5 UFC) has been on a tear in the lightweight division, winning four of his last five. The Canadian's only loss since 2008 was a split decision setback to Jeremy Stephens at UFC 113. Last month, his brutal knockout of Yves Edwards at UFC 131 earned him a Knockout of the Night bonus - his fourth bonus in his last five fights and sixth overall - including five Fight of the Night awards. Despite his "Hands of Stone" nickname, Stout's KO of Edwards was his first knockout, and first finish, since 2007.

Vera (11-5, 1 NC, 7-5, 1 NC UFC) returns to the cage in what could very well be a critical fight for his career. After losses to Randy Couture and Jon Jones, Vera was dominated by Thiago Silva at UFC 125 in January and was subsequently cut. But Silva's positive test for performance-enhancing drugs overturned the loss to a no contest, and Vera was given another shot in the UFC. "The Truth," a former heavyweight, started his career 8-0, and 4-0 in the UFC, including a win over former champion Frank Mir. But since, he has gone just 3-5 with the one no contest.

Marshall (10-3, 3-2 UFC) gets one more crack after a TKO loss to Luiz Cane at UFC 128 in March. He took that fight on five weeks notice, subbing for an injured Karlos Vemola. It was his return to the promotion after going 3-0 outside the UFC in 2010. After a split decision loss to Vladimir Matyushenko in March 2010, Marshall, a Season 8 veteran of "The Ultimate Fighter," was bizarrely cut by the UFC despite being 3-1 in the promotion at the time.

The UFC 137 pay-per-view will take place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The UFC last visited that venue for UFC 126 in February. With the event, Mandalay Bay will pull into the lead against its down-the-street sister property, the MGM Grand Garden Arena, for most UFC events hosted. Each has currently been home to 20 UFC shows. UFC 137 will be Mandalay Bay's 21st.

Following his shocking twenty-second loss to BJ Penn back in November of last year, many fight fans wondered if we had seen the last of Matt Hughes. Hughes had won three straight prior to getting destroyed by Penn, and many were hopeful of a major comeback. After the Penn loss, Hughes openly wondered if maybe [...]

The recent attention given to testosterone replacement therapy has really fired up some folks around the MMA world. Ben Askren straight up called Nate Marquardt a cheater. Bas Rutten piled on this week as well.

On HDNet's Inside MMA, Rutten showed no mercy for dopers.

"If you're take it for performance enhancing, you're a loser," Rutten said. "You see a lot of guys doing it. For me, the bigger they are, it shows weakness."

As Rutten was going on his rant, it was clear active fighter Dennis Hallman was squirming and getting agitated.

"The moment you're taking it, you're weak in the mind. If it's up to you that you have to take that [expletive], that's what I call it, to compete with the other ones, then don't compete," said Rutten.

Hallman chimed in by explaining why he uses hormone replacement therapy pointing to his issues with coeliac disease.

Rutten sounded like he's willing to accept the excuse put forth by some, but if you cross the line of legality with your testosterone limits, the former UFC heavyweight champ says throw the book at the fighter.

"I say just don't cross the line. If you're Nate marquardt [and you get] across the line, [it] wrecks a main event. That's a serious thing."

There seems to be one major issue with Hallman's explanation for his therapy. Don't forget, he tested positive for drostanolone and nandrolone back in 2007 after a win over Jeremiah Metcalf.